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NASCAR penalizes drivers

NASCAR penalizes drivers

THOSE WERE THE DAYS — Casey Mears, left, and Marcos Ambrose in friendlier times. The two were fined Tuesday after they were involved in an altercation at Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race.

By Sports Network

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR took action against drivers Marcos Ambrose and Casey Mears after they were involved in a physical altercation following the conclusion of last Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway.

Both drivers got into a heated argument with each other in the garage area before Mears shoved Ambrose around and then Ambrose retaliated by punching Mears in the face. They had been battling hard for position in the closing laps of the race, with Ambrose finishing 18th and Mears 19th.

NASCAR fined Ambrose $25,000 and Mears $15,000 for the incident. Both drivers were also placed on probation until May 28.

According to a release by NASCAR on Tuesday, Ambrose and Mears “were found to have violated Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing), and 12-4.9 (Behavioral Penalty; involved in an altercation in the garage area after the race) as outlined in the 2014 NASCAR rule book.”

Ambrose drives the No. 9 Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports, while Mears is behind the wheel of the No. 13 Chevrolet for Germain Racing.

Richard Petty Motorsports said in a team statement that Ambrose accepts the penalties and will not appeal.

Mears talked about his altercation with Ambrose while being interviewed on Fox Sports 1’s “NASCAR Race Hub” on Monday night.

Mears said on the television program, “It was a few things on the track, and at the end of the day, none of that should ever happen. But in the heat of the moment when you get out of your race car and it just happened to you, some stuff that you didn’t like, we just started going at each other. Before we knew it, it escalated really quickly. And for a moment there, I kind of wanted to hit him. But I thought I can’t do that. So I grabbed him. It turned out the way it did.”